The ‘Clean Industrial Deal’ still has to be arbitrated before it is presented by the European Commission at the end of February. In anticipation of this package, the Commission has summarised all the actions it intends to take over the coming months in its ‘Competitiveness Compass’, which is due to be presented on Wednesday 29 January and of which Agence Europe received a draft copy. This document is largely based on the reports by Mr Draghi and Mr Letta and does not go much further than what the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced in her recent speeches.
The key words of the Commission’s strategy are simplification and acceleration. But the 22-page document also talks about redirecting European funding or supporting the production of clean technologies, through demand, for example.
Simplification. The Commission reiterates its intention to launch a ‘Decarbonisation Accelerator Act’, or as well an omnibus initiative to simplify existing regulations.
This should affect the three scapegoat texts in terms of administrative burden: the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive CSDDD) and the European Taxonomy Regulation. According to a European source, several voices in the Commission are pushing for an omnibus covering more legislation.
The Commission also plans to create a new category of ‘mid-cap’ companies larger in size than SMEs, which could benefit from certain flexibilities dedicated to SMEs.
The ‘Decarbonisation Accelerator Act’, is expected to look at the procedures for granting permits and reducing their duration, which is considered too long, despite the instruments adopted, such as the ‘Net-Zero Industry Act’.
The proposal for a 28th regime for companies operating in the internal market could also see the light of day as early as 2026.
Financing. The ‘Compass’ has no new financing announcements either, but gives even more concrete substance to the Commission’s intentions. It intends to create a ‘Competitiveness Fund’ within the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). Instead, it should be a question of redirecting resources towards competitiveness objectives rather than asking Member States to increase the budget.
“The EU budget spending is currently fragmented over too many programmes - often with limited coordinated strategic steer and high complexity for the industry”, says the Commission in its draft ‘Competitiveness Compass’ text.
The ‘Competitiveness Fund’ should finance investment in strategic technologies such as artificial intelligence and bio-tech.
To make more effective use of financial resources across the 27 Member States, the Commission is expected to create a coordination tool for competitiveness, so as to have an overview of what is being financed.
The other lever for increasing investment lies in better mobilisation of private capital, and the Commission endorses Enrico Letta’s idea of creating a Savings and Investment Union. This should result in legislative proposals to reduce the fragmentation of markets in the EU, notably through a European savings product.
Resilience and unfair competition. The Commission has heard the message from private players who are concerned about a lack of outlets for their clean technologies. In 2025, it intends to use pilot markets to support demand for green products, but also to adapt the rules of public procurement to include a European preference, at least in the field of critical technologies.
To see the draft text: https://aeur.eu/f/f7q (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)